Adventures in Babysitting
by Madilayn
Summary: A gift for Darkflames Pyre - she wanted to knwo about Colonel Casey adn Captain Taylor babysitting smol Tracy boys. So here are their attempts - with various levels of success.
"Thanks Val. I need to get Lucy to the doc's for this flu she's got, but with Mom gone home, you were the first person I thought of to look after Scott."

Val Casey snuggled two month old Scott Tracy and cooed at him. "It's no trouble at all, Jeff. And now that the house is back to normal and when Lee and I come back home, you won't be left without a babysitter." Scott yawned widely and seemed to nestle back to sleep.

"Besides, he's an adorable little fellow that won't cause any problems for his Godmother. Will you Scotty? No! You won't!" She trailed off into a series of coos and nonsense syllables, only vaguely acknowledging Jeff and Lucy leaving the house.

She was confident there would be nothing going wrong as she settled the baby into its basket in the living room. She and Lucy had studied whilst Lucy was pregnant, practicing all aspects of looking after a baby, and had forced Jeff and Lee into doing the same. As a result, all four of them had approached the birth of the firstborn Tracy with confidence.

She was rather excited – this was the first time she would spend any time alone with her new Godson and planned to start implanting into him the idea of becoming a pilot like his Auntie Val. Along with getting a few more pictures for her "Scott" file.

Two hours later, she wasn't sure of anything any longer, and would have been hard pressed to remember her own name.

Scott was crying. Huge, gulping, heart-rending sobs that tore her heart out with each one, because she couldn't work out what was wrong.

He was clean and dry – the first thing she checked. There were no pins sticking into him, or anything rubbing harshly against him anywhere.

She tried to give him some milk from the stock that Lucy had expressed, but he wasn't interested. Instead, all he did was cry. She tried to pick him up and burp him, and, after expressing an almighty belch that was admirable in itself, he continued to cry when she put him back down.

She was now kneeling next to the basket begging the baby to stop, to tell her what was wrong. Parades of soft toys making what she hoped was music had no effect on the crying, and she really couldn't blame him. Val loved music, but was under no illusions as to her singing abilities.

"Scotty, darling, please stop crying for Auntie! Or at least tell me what's wrong. Please my darling boy… stop crying." She almost felt on the verge of tears herself, hoping that it didn't mean that her beloved Godson didn't like her.

Finally, she picked up the baby and began to walk around the room, hoping that the movement would soothe him. "Please, Scott. Please stop. Don't cry baby. Look… let's go for a walk… Auntie take you for a walk baba? Come on… walkies!"

The crying lessened a little as she started to walk with her normal firm stride, but then started again. "I can't believe it! I can fly millions of dollars' worth of aircraft but I can't keep a baby from crying! Scotty, this isn't a very good start to our life together, sweetie. How are you going to be an ace pilot if you keep crying?"

In her mind she was wishing that Jeff and Lucy would just come home, because her heart was breaking. "How about we go outside, Scott? Some nice fresh air? We can do a walk in the garden. Maybe that will keep you from crying! At this stage, I don't blame you! In fact I might just have a cry right along with you. How on earth can one small baby cry for so long? Where is it coming from?"

She bundled the baby up and went outside to the porch and sat on the swing and started to swing.

Scott kept crying.

"Oh come off it, Scotty! Give your Auntie a break here!" Unconsciously she began to swing harder and faster and bounced the baby in time with her swinging, and began to talk about things other than him stopping crying. She talked to him about flying. How it felt when she was flying. How much fun it was. The beauty of the sky. How blue it was. "As blue as your gorgeous eyes, darling boy. When they aren't screwed up," she said.

She kept swinging and cuddled him close. "Please, scotty baby. Please be good for Auntie Val. I love you little man and want you to love me too."

Suddenly she realised he wasn't crying. His eyes were open and the blue was as blue as the sky. She stopped swinging and his face started to crumple, so she hastily started again.

"So that's the secret," she said laughing. "You're a little flyboy already?"

She looked up as a car pulled in and smiled to see Jeff and Lucy exiting. Lucy looked miserable as she climbed the stairs. "I've got the flu," she said. "And the Dr told me I have to keep away from baby for a few days." Tears were trickling from her eyes as she spoke. Jeff came and put his arms around her.

"It's only a few days, darling. And you don't want to give it to baby, do you."

"No… but.." Lucy looked longingly at the child in Val's arms as she swung in the swing. She sighed. "He loves being swinged," she said miserably.

"It certainly stopped him from squalling," Val said dryly. "You might have mentioned it before you left."

"And let you miss the wonder of my son's lungs," Jeff said, laughing. "Look, Lucy, how about you sit at one end of the swing and Val at the other. That way you can still see him. It will also let you in the fresh air – the Doc said it would be good for you."

The baby, hearing its parents' voices, opened his eyes and reached out tiny chubby hands towards his mother. Val hastily moved to one end of the swing and propped Scott on her knee so he could see his mother at the other end. "Talk to him, Lucy. Let him know you're there."

Lucy waved and played with the baby from the other end of the porch swing, making sure that she didn't breathe or cough on him. After about twenty minutes, Lucy started to yawn, which set the baby off as well.

Val followed Lucy in and settled Scott in his basket in the living room where she could continue to watch him and walked into the kitchen.

As she came back with a cup of tea and curled up in the large armchair next to his basket she reached one finger down and touched the downy hair and soft cheek. "Oh, my little Scotty. You and I – we're going to have such fun in the future," she said lovingly.


End file.
